MKDA Covers Black Diamond Capital Management’s Stamford Headquarters with Fins

Family-owned interior design and branding firm MKDA has been listed as one of our Giants for many years, in no small part due to its winning corporate interiors. The design for Black Diamond Capital Management’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut is further proof of its ingenuity: a renovation of the 106,000-square-foot building that wittily incorporates its location on the Harbor Point waterfront.

MKDA created curb appeal by updating the entrance with white stone and uplights that set off the undulating facade of blue-tinted, mirrored glass. A glass and metal canopy extends from the new, double-height glass vestibule.

But the cleverest idea came from a challenge. “The building owner wanted to mask the garage that hid the building’s entry from street view,” says MKDA executive managing director Julia Lindh. First, they painted it a dark grey. “Then we came up with the idea of an architectural feature, which evolved into individual vertical structures that would move or ‘wave’ attention toward the entrance, and also reference the building’s waterfront location.” The result is dozens of fins lined up in a kind of ripple, attracting and directing the eye simultaneously.